(a) Definitions. As used in this section:
(1) “Cigarette” means any roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco, irrespective of size or shape, and whether or not such tobacco is flavored, adulterated or mixed with any other ingredient.
(2) “Possess” or “possession” means having control over a thing or substance, but may not be inferred solely from mere access to the thing or substance through ownership or occupation of the premises upon which the thing or substance is found.
(3) “Sale” means delivery, barter, exchange, transfer or gift, or an offer thereof, and each transaction made by any person, whether as principal, proprietor, agent, servant or employee.
(4) “Smoke” means to burn any substance containing tobacco, including a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe or other device used to burn tobacco.
(5) “Tobacco product” means the proceeds, yield or final form of anything made up wholly or in part of the genus of the plant known as nicotania. Such products include, but are not limited to, cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff.
(6) “Use tobacco” means to chew or maintain any substance containing tobacco, including smokeless tobacco, in the mouth, to derive the effects of tobacco.
(7) “Vending machine” means any mechanical or electronic device designed to do both of the following:
A. Receive a coin, bill or token made for that purpose;
B. In return for the insertion or deposit of a coin, bill or token, automatically dispense property, provide a service or grant a license.
(8) “Alternative nicotine product” means an electronic cigarette or any other product or device that consists of or contains nicotine that can be ingested into the body by any means, including, but not limited to, chewing, smoking, absorbing, dissolving, or inhaling.
(9) “Electronic cigarette” means any electronic product or device that produces a vapor that delivers nicotine or any other substance to the person inhaling from the device to simulate smoking and that is likely to be offered to or purchased by consumers as an electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, or electronic pipe.
(b) Sale of Cigarettes, Alternative Nicotine Products and Tobacco Products to Individuals Under 21 Years of Age.
(1) No manufacturer, producer, distributor, wholesaler or retailer of cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products, or any agent, employee or representative of a manufacturer, producer, distributor, wholesaler or retailer of cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products, shall do any of the following:
A. Give, sell or otherwise distribute cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products to any person under 21 years of age.
B. Give away, sell or distribute cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products in any place and have a sign posted in a conspicuous place a sign stating that giving, selling or otherwise distributing cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products to a person under 21 years of age is prohibited by law.
(2) No person shall sell or offer to sell cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products by or from a vending machine except in the following locations.
A. In an area either:
1. Within a factory, business, office or other place not open to the general public; or
2. To which persons under the age of 21 years are not generally permitted access.
B. In any other place upon all of the following conditions:
1. The vending machine is located within the immediate vicinity, plain view and control of the person who owns or operates the place, or an employee of such person, so that all cigarettes, alternative nicotine products and other tobacco products purchased from the vending machine will be readily observed by the person who owns or operates the place or by an employee of such person. For the purpose of this section, a vending machine located in any unmonitored area, including an unmonitored coatroom, restroom, hallway or outer waiting area, shall not be considered located within the immediate vicinity, plain view and control of the person who owns or operates the place, or an employee of such person.
2. The vending machine is inaccessible to the public when the place is closed.
(c) Possession and Use of Cigarettes, Alternative Nicotine Products and Tobacco Products by Individuals Under 21 Years of Age.
(1) No person shall give, sell, transfer or otherwise distribute cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products to any person under 21 years of age.
(2) No person under 21 years of age shall smoke, use cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products, or possess any substance containing tobacco.
(3) No person under 21 years of age shall order, pay for, purchase, share the cost of, or attempt to purchase, share the cost of, or attempt to purchase, cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products.
(4) No person under 21 years of age shall knowingly show or give false information concerning his or her name, age or other identification for the purpose of purchasing or otherwise obtaining cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products in any place in the City where cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products are sold.
(5) No person shall knowingly furnish any other identification of any person under 21 years of age for the purpose of obtaining, or with the intent to obtain, cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products for a person under 21 years of age, by purchase or as a gift.
(d) Immunity. No person may be found guilty of a violation of the provisions of this section, where age is an element of the offense, if any court determines that the individual buying, at the time of so doing, exhibited to the aforesaid person or his or her agent or employee, a driver's license or commercial driver's license or a State-issued identification card showing that such individual was then of legal age to buy cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products; if the aforesaid person, or his or her agent or employee, attempted to ascertain the true age of the individual buying by checking the identification presented at the time of purchase, to ascertain that the description of the identification presented compared with the visual description of the buyer and that the identification presented had not been altered in any way; and if the aforesaid person had reason to believe that the individual buying was of legal age.
(e) Penalty.
(1) Whoever violates any of the provisions of subsection (b) hereof is guilty of illegal distribution of cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. If the offender has previously been convicted of a violation of this section, then illegal distribution of cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products is a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(2) Whoever violates any of the provisions of subsection (c) hereof is guilty of possession and use of cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or other tobacco products by being under 21 years of age, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
(Ord. 33-98. Passed 6-8-98; Ord. 02-19. Passed 3-25-19; 03-24. Passed 1-8-24.)